VFS Global says its Canada visa application centres to remain open in 10 Indian cities

Hours after Canada announced that it would be withdrawing 41 of its diplomats from India, visa services provider VFS Global clarified that its Canada-centric visa application centres will remain open in 10 Indian cities.

“Please note that our Canada visa application centres across 10 Indian cities continue to operate normally, as instructed by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC),” VFS Global said in a statement issued on October 20.

The Canada visa application centres are operated by VFS Global in the cities of New Delhi, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune.

Notably, IRCC is the nodal immigration authority of Canada, and is responsible for examining the scores of applications made by Indians seeking student, visit or permanent residency visas.

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The clarification from VFS Global came in the aftermath of IRCC noting that the reduction in Canada's diplomatic presence in India will affect the visa processing time.

“IRCC is reducing its number of employees in India from 27 to 5. IRCC will continue to accept and process applications from India, but reduced staffing levels are expected to impact processing times,” it said.

The Canadian immigration body, however, clarified that the large majority of applications from India are already processed outside the country, with “89 percent of India’s applications processed through the global network”. 

The five Canada-based IRCC staff who remain in India will focus on work that requires an in-country presence such as urgent processing, visa printing, risk assessment and overseeing key partners, it further said.

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, while briefing the press on October 19 in Ottawa, confirmed the decision to withdraw 41 Canadian diplomats from India. The move, she said, was necessitated due to New Delhi's decision to provide diplomatic immunity to only 21 out of the 62 Canadian diplomats currently stationed in the country,

“As of now, I can confirm that India has formally conveyed its plan to unethically remove diplomatic immunities for all but 21 Canadian diplomats and dependents in Delhi by October 20. This means 41 Canadian diplomats and their 42 dependents were in danger of having immunity stripped on an arbitrary date and this would put their personal safety at risk,” news agency ANI quoted her as saying.

Joly added that the move will affect the diplomatic operations in a number of Indian cities. “Canadians watching may be wondering what this means for our operations in India. There's no question that India's decision will impact the levels of services to Consulates in both countries. Unfortunately, we have to put a pause on all in-person services in our Consulates in Chandigarh, in Mumbai and in Bangalore," she said.

The diplomatic row was triggered last month, after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged a “potential link” to Indian officials in Canada in connection to the murder of pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The Indian government has denied the charge.